Regulations

Teams/Events

2017 will see the NSL increased to 2 levels of play NSL and NSL2 each with 12 teams

Teams must be registered with the BSF and fees paid by May 31st each season

Teams will play league games in the NSL section at tournaments designated by the BSF. For 2017 these are: the 3 Diamonds events @ Farnham Park – D1 (13-14 May), D2 (10-11 June) and D3 (29 -30 July). The NSL sections at these events are open to NSL teams only. Play is mandatory for all NSL1 and NSL2 teams.

Top 8 teams will play @ Farnham Park in the NSL and NSL Nationals on Sept 2nd/3rd ’17.

Player qualification

Players are required to play exclusively for their NSL team on four dates to gain qualification to play for that team in the Premier Nationals — ie a player may not play for a lower-grade team and “step up” during the day to try to gain a qualification day for an NSL team. Two of these dates MUST be in NSL league competition at designated tournaments; the others can be gained at any UK-based BSF-sanctioned event running A-grade competition, such as British Airways, Windsor, Blitz Tournament and any new event with an A-grade category (for NSL teams).For NSL2 teams the main events in the various regions on the calendar can be used for extra qualification dates – Solent, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Windsor & East Midlands.

Rosters must be emailed after each NSL event and will be held on a database will provide a list of qualified players at the end of each NSL league season. For non-NSL events, a roster must be submitted by the Wednesday following the event to gain player qualification.

Each team page on the BSF Nationals website (www.bsf-nsl.com) will be updated so it is clearly visible which players are eligible to play in the Premier Nationals.

Player Transfers

Rosters for NSL teams will close just before the NSL event at Diamond 2 – in 2017, that will be at 5.00 pm on Friday 9 June. Anyone transferring after this will not be allowed to qualify to play in the Premier Nationals for their new team.

A player may still transfer after this date, but will not be eligible for the Premier Nationals.

A player can transfer only once during a season.

Playing Structure

In 2017, the BSF will set up league games with predetermined home and away fixtures at Diamond 1 (42 games), Diamond 2 (42 games) and Diamond 3 (48 games).

All teams will play in a double round-robin format over these three weekends. The top eight teams in the NSL & NSL2 standings after all three tournaments have been played will qualify for the Premier Nationals.

There will be trophies and medals for teams placed first, second and third in the NSL standings, to be awarded at the Nationals, along with the Perpetual Trophy.

At Diamond 1 and 2, NSL teams will play NSL league games, followed by semi-finals and finals based on the weekend’s game results so that Diamond Series points can be awarded. Diamonds 3 there will be Finals only due to the extra league games required to be played.

Promotion and Relegation

At the end of the 2017 season the bottom team in NSL1 will be demoted and the top team in NSL2 will gain promotion. The bottom 2 teams in NSL2 will be demoted out (but can apply to go on the waiting list for re-entry) to allow other teams a chance to play NSL.

Uniforms for Co-Ed Nationals Championships

Matching tops must be worn – exception is if every male has the same top and every female has the same top where there is a male and female version. Numbers and names are not a requirement at this time though different numbered tops makes player identification easier

bottoms must be of the same base colour and can be a mixture of short / long.

Navy and black are 2 different colours

There are no regulations re caps / visors

No metal cleats may be worn

Future Plans

The BSF plan on running NSL1 and NSL2 in league format as stand alone events on dedicated weekends May, June & July in 2017.

There will be promotion and relegation between NSL1 and NSL2,

BSF are open to listen to any event organiser for a bid to run one of the NSL weekends eg further North

NSL2 places

will be awarded to those finishing 1st and 2nd at NSL3 played during NSL Nationals in September